extract Archives - Sweet Simple Living

3 DIY Christmas Gifts to Start Making Now!

November 4, 2016

Hey y’all! Its officially November so I can post about getting ready for Christmas! (Yay!) I have already started making some homemade gifts! The things I’m making take some time to be “ready” which is why I suggest starting now! These few gift ideas are perfect for people in your life who you wouldn’t normally think to buy a “real” gift for..Like neighbors, friends, co-workers, obscure relatives, etc! Have you ever had someone give you a gift and you didn’t get them anything? Having some small homemade gifts on hand is perfect for those situations too! The gift ideas I have here are a little more suitable for women, but men who enjoy coffee or like to cook would love some of them too! The recipes for these things are already on my blog so this is more of a “round-up” post of some great Christmas gift ideas. Hope it sparks some creativity!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you make a purchase through them. I only recommend things I use myself!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Recipe HERE! You can find the recipe in the link, but it is really just as simple as adding some vanilla beans to vodka and letting it sit! There is some cutting involved so check out my post to see how to cut your vanilla beans to make your vanilla more flavorful! Vanilla beans need to steep for awhile to develop a good flavor so I would recommend starting this gift a few months before Christmas, like now! You can use your vanilla as soon as the vodka starts to turn brown but it will be very weak until it becomes more of a deep brownish black color. The great thing about this gift is that the recipient can just keep adding more vodka as they use the vanilla and the few beans in the bottle will keep on giving for quite awhile before they’re no good.
Find vanilla beans on Amazon here, and bonus! I found these ADORABLE little bottles that actually come with seals so your homemade extract can look legit!! You simply put the cover over the top of the bottle, and use steam (or a hair dryer) to shrink the seal to fit over the top! This will keep it fresher longer but mostly it just looks really cool! I don’t have a hair dryer so I held mine over a pot of boiling water and it sealed right up. I love it so much!

Homemade Cinnamon Extract

Recipe HERE! This is a very similar process to the vanilla extract but uses cinnamon sticks! So easy! It literally takes almost zero effort to make these but they look so impressive! Cinnamon extract steeps much faster than vanilla extract so you wouldn’t need to start this one so early, but it doesn’t hurt. I find it easier to make them all at the same time. Cinnamon extract is perfect for seasonal beverages! Using powdered cinnamon for coffee, eggnog, tea, apple cider, etc. makes the drink gritty. Drinking cinnamon particles is unpleasant so using cinnamon extract in drinks is perfect! Use the same bottles as for the vanilla extract!

Homemade Soap

Learn the basics of soap making in my soap making for beginners post! Its not as difficult as you would think to make soap from scratch! (You can even make it in a crockpot!) If you have young kids around or aren’t into handling caustic materials, you can also purchase pour and mold soaps and put your own add-ins or fragrances in to create soap safely and even involve your kids! If you’re brave enough to make it from scratch, my bentonite pine soap is perfect for the holidays, or even coffee soap! For Christmas gifts this year I made cold process cinnamon soap by just using a plain white soap recipe and adding some cinnamon. I swirled it a bit and it smells really great! I’ll post that recipe soon so stay tuned!

BONUS, Wool Dryer Balls- Recipe HERE! Dryer balls are a great gift for those who are health conscious like me! They take the place of dryer sheets and help your laundry dry faster. I planned on making some of these for gifts this year but haven’t gotten around to it so I haven’t decided if I will or not, but its still a great idea! Dryer balls can be expensive when purchased but making your own is very easy and affordable!

DIY Cinnamon Extract

September 10, 2016

Hey y’all! This post will be short, but I had to tell you about this genius idea I had! (To be fair, this idea isn’t NEW by any means..After I thought of it I looked on Pinterest and noticed it HAS in fact been done….but I did think of it by myself first so that counts for something right? ;)) Remember my post about how to make homemade vanilla extract? Well I thought I’d try that but with cinnamon sticks! I had a bag of cinnamon sticks I bought just for adding to pretty food photos as a “garnish” but otherwise I didn’t have a use for them. I was trying to think about a way I could make a homemade pumpkin spice latte, but all the recipes I saw called for ground spices like cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, etc. I’ve made hot drinks with ground spices before and they’re always grainy…spices don’t dissolve in liquid, so you have to keep stirring the particles up. I didn’t want a gritty PSL, so I was trying to think of ways to get the flavors of the spices in liquid form so it would be smooth! This is how I thought of the idea! I put some cinnamon sticks in a cool bottle I had and topped it off with some cheap vodka I had on hand from making vanilla extract and I sealed it up and waited to see what happened. In just a couple days the extract was already brown, and smelled DIVINE! I poured a splash into a latte and it TASTED divine too! It didn’t have the slightest smell or taste of vodka, but just pure cinnamon smell and flavor. Awesome! And now I’m wondering if this will work with other whole spices too?!?! It’d be awesome to make a “pumpkin spice extract” by just doing this with all the pumpkin spices and using that in a latte? My wheels are turning! I may have an experiment on my hands. 🙂

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that earn me a small commission if you make a purchase through them, but it doesn’t cost you any extra! I only recommend products I actually use!

So here’s the simplest recipe ever:
Take some cinnamon sticks.. (I bought these!) and put them in a cool recycled bottle or mason jar. Top it off with vodka. Wait a few days and shake occasionally. When liquid is brown and smells good, you can use it! I don’t have measurements because I don’t think it matters too much! Just guestimate. If after a few days its still too weak, add some more cinnamon sticks, and just top it off with vodka as it gets low. You’ll be able to tell when you think you need to add another cinnamon stick or replace the ones in there. I think cinnamon sticks will last a REALLY long time though! I guess I’ll find out as I continue to use mine!

Ways I’ve used my cinnamon extract:

-In coffee or lattes (This is the main way I use them. Its so good! Adding a dash of this and a dash of vanilla to a coffee or latte makes it taste almost sweet without needing any sugar! I’m also used to drinking coffee without sugar so maybe that’s why.)
-In recipes calling for cinnamon (I used some in cobbler with actual ground cinnamon too! It was really good.)
-In tea!

That’s about all I can think of! What ideas do you have for using cinnamon extract? Do you think this method of making extract would work with other whole spices?? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

December 29, 2015

Did you know you can actually make homemade vanilla extract? Its not a new concept by any means, but before a few months ago I had no idea that this was possible, or how incredibly easy it could be! If you bake a lot you know that pure vanilla extract ain’t cheap, and I’m all about doing things myself and saving money.
All you need are two ingredients: alcohol and vanilla beans! (Try these!!) If you buy pure vanilla extract from the store and look at the ingredients list, it normally just says vanilla beans, and alcohol. Somehow I never noticed that or realized that vanilla extract is alcoholic until recently. You use such a small amount in recipes because it carries such a strong vanilla flavor so I guess I never thought about that or noticed that it contained alcohol. When I told a few people this little tidbit and they had no idea either, so I guess it might not be common knowledge for a lot of people, or else we were all just clueless. 🙂 Anyhow! Here’s how you make it!
Generally about 5 vanilla beans per one cup of alcohol is the ratio that is recommended for vanilla extract. Vodka is the most common type of alcohol to use because it has a really neutral flavor, but some people use bourbon, rum, or brandy. I just bought the cheapest vodka they had at the store which is perfectly fine and does the job. To make it I cut my vanilla beans lengthwise in half almost all the way to the top, while leaving the bean in tact. I added the appropriate amount of beans to my jar and poured the vodka over them. The beans I bought said that the extract would be usable in one month, but I’ve read other accounts of making vanilla extract that said 2 or even 3 months. We started using the vanilla in peanut butter frozen banana shakes about a month after I started it and I definitely tasted the vanilla flavor in there so I’d say after its steeped for a month, go for it! The flavor will only deepen more, the longer its left to sit. You have to try to remember to shake it up once a day to help it along. Also, when you start using the vanilla up, you can keep topping off your jar with vodka and it will blend in with your extract and the existing beans in your jar. You can keep doing this for awhile. Eventually you will want to take out the old beans and replace them with new beans, but how long you go will be personal preference. If you notice that the extract doesn’t taste as good or that the vanilla flavor isn’t as strong as it was before you’ll know its time to replace your beans!
This is awesome for creating a large stock of vanilla if you use it a lot, or it also makes an adorable homemade gift for someone else who loves baking. 🙂

Here’s a yummy recipe over at www.simplyashleynicole.com you can make using your homemade vanilla!
Ashley, from Simply Ashley Nicole, and I were paired up as “solidarity sisters” this month! We’re both part of a group of Christian-women-bloggers called the Peony Project on Facebook and we signed up to participate this month. Solidarity sisters is basically getting a pen pal from the group to chat with throughout the month. We chat about life and help each other out with our blogs. Its fun, and really helpful! We were encouraged to do some type of collaboration post with our “sister” and this is ours, so check out her blog and her awesome recipe! Ashley’s blog has a little bit of everything; From life advise to budgeting, marriage, fun ideas on all sorts of topics, tips for bloggers, and even recipes. If you’re a fellow Christian-woman-blogger, check out the Peony Project and consider signing up for Solidarity Sisters in January to get your own pen pal!